The Calming Rain

I resigned a consulting account yesterday. I thought the account was going well. We had infact made some amazing strides in the overall strategy and service mapping of the organisation. However, due to ideological differences, we decided to split after an acrimonious telephone call and lengthy email exchange. It was the day before Good Friday.

The decision laid heavily on my heart. Verses about God not giving me a spirit of fear, and righteousness prevailing swirled in my head. I woke up angry today (Friday). It was raining in Scarborough, and I decided to walk to Church. As I walked through the rain, the smell of wet grass, the cool breeze and the green shoots of life around me filled me with peace. I was at once transported to my childhood rain walks through Pali Hill with my best friend.

God's peace came down on me through the rain drops. I entered church soaking wet. I mentioned this at bible study later in the day. , and a church member remarked that I needed to learn how to dodge the rain. He didn't realise how profound his statement was. God gives his blessing so abundantly that we can't we avoid it if we wanted to ... We can only chose to ignore the rain, but never dodge the rain drops. I was humbled ... happy ... definitely at peace with Thursday.

I was even more blessed during the bible study, when our worship leader mentioned a story... He loved to play pranks on his mother. On one Sunday he found himself driving immediately behind his mother's car in the way to church. He decided to honk and surprise her. He didn't get any reaction from his mother in the car. As they approached the church, he expected his mother to turn into the parking lot, so he honked a few more times. To his surprise, she drove by the church without entering. Confused, he entered church. His mother came in a few minutes later. After service he met his mother and asked why she was late to church. This is what his mother said ... There was an angry driver behind me on the way to church. I wasn't too sure what I had done to offend him. But I did not want them to curse the church of God if they saw me entering. Therefore, I decided to drive by, go around a few blocks only when I was sure they had driven past ... Her son is our worship leader now. I hope I can be a similar example for those around us.

I walked back in the rain on Good Friday. My heart is filled by the calming rain, in the knowledge that Christ died on the cross to save me.